SYLVIAMusic by Lawrence GoldbergBook & lyrics by Jack LechnerBased on the play by A.R. Gurney

I met Jack Lechner in the BMI Musical Theatre Writing Workshop in 2001. We were mutually attracted to each other's work during the year, and chose to write our year-end project together, a 15-minute version of A.R. Gurney's popular play Sylvia, about a husband who brings home a stray dog who communicates rather articulately. It's tough to boil a full-length play down to only 15 minutes, but I think we managed to keep the spirit and essence of the play, freely borrowing Gurney's language and telescoping events madly. The result is a musical love-letter to dog-ownership, one that resonates deeply for me in that I adopted my own dog Gunther the same year we wrote the piece. Fantastic performances from Melissa Bell Chait (Sylvia), Don Richard (Greg), Alice Lynn (Kate) and Charlie Marcus (Tom). (WARNING: Contains strong language!)

Our version of Sylvia is rather self-explanatory, as 15 minutes leaves very little time for book scenes. In the Opening, Greg brings Sylvia home to an unsuspecting Kate.

That Dog D. Richard, C. Marcus, M. Chait, A. Lynn

Fun at the dog park, while Kate complains to a friend on the phone.(Contains strong language!)

I've Got to Let You Go D. Richard, M. Chait

Kate has given Greg an ultimatum: it's her or the dog. Sylvia doesn't like the consequences. After we agreed on a title, I wrote the whole melody without lyrics. Practically the entire tune is built out of 6-note phrases that would comfortably match the title syllables, so Jack had to figure out where the title would fall. (He chose the obvious place-- the end of each stanza!) Jack did a brilliant job with a surprisingly intricate rhyme scheme while still making very compact sense of the moment. I also like the way we control the sentimentality with a comedy chaser. This is one of my favorite pieces of music that I've written, and I've recycled the tune in my "Elegy for Cello and Piano". Also, both Jack and I have written alternate lyrics that make the song play more generally outside the context of the story.

Otherwise/Epilogue M.Chait, D. Richard, A. Lynn

Sylvia argues her case and Kate gives in, because dogs have a way of winning you over. In the Epilogue, I manage to bring back the themes from all three prior songs, tying the whole thing into a nice cohesive package.(Contains strong language!)